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Lone Wolf
Lone Wolf is first book in the Wolves of the Beyond series, written by Kathryn Lasky. It was released on January, 2010. Preview In the harsh wilderness beyond the owl word of Ga'Hoole, a wolf mother hides in fear. Her newborn pup, otherwise healthy, has a twisted paw. The mother knows the rigid rules of her kind. The pack cannot have weakness. Her pup must be abandoned on an icy riverbank- condemned to die. But alone in the forest the pup, Faolan does the unthinkable. He survives. This is Faolan's story, the story of a courageous wolf pup who rises up to change forever the wolves of the Beyond.﻿ History A silver she-wolf called Morag, Faolan's birth mother, is searching for a den to give birth to her third litter. Scared of birthing a [http://wolvesofthebeyond.wikia.com/wiki/Malcadh malcadh], she went [http://wolvesofthebeyond.wikia.com/wiki/By-lang by-lang] and attemped to cross the border. There are several shallow pits, but they would offer no shelter. Morag then finds a pregnant fox waiting to give birth. Morag chases the fox away. After Morag gets rid of the vixen, she gives birth. She has three pups, two tawny females and a silver male. But the silver pup has a splayed paw, declaring it a malcadh. This is a small flaw, but will be serious in the clan. Morag told herself the deformity would leave in a few days, but however it remained. The Obea of MacDuncan Clan, Shibaan then tries to track Morag down. Shibaan had learned to become suspicious when a she-wolf went by-lang. She is able to pick up the smallest of signs and see through Morag's tricks. She finds Morag and takes the silver pup to an icy river bank. Shibaan returns and both she-wolves carry each one of the tawny pups and announce the birth of the [http://wolvesofthebeyond.wikia.com/wiki/Malcadh malcadh] to the clan. Shibaan abandoned the pup on a piece of ice on the river that is about to crack. She is said to have no feeling for the pups she abandons and she "might as well be carrying a clod of dirt". The ice melts, and makes an abandoned pup open his eyes and ears. He struggles to grip the ice, because of his splayed paw. At that moment, a female grizzly appears on the bank full of grief. Her cub, her last likely newb orn, was taken and killed by cougars. As she pleads with Great Ursus, the bear spirit, she asks that her life be ripped from her, and the river swallow her (although, the water is too shallow for her to drown). Just at that moment, the pup snaggs her foot, and she thinks it was some river debris. Somehow, she knows it is not just a passing bramble thicket so she gently picks the pup up. The shock and impact of the water had actually opened the pup's eyes and ears. The sun rose, and shined into the pup's eyes. She thought, "I seek death, and it seeks life". The she-bear thinks it is a sign from Great Ursus. She names the pup, Faolan, "Fao" meaning both river and wolf, and "Lan" meaning gift. She brings him back to her den, where he lives and drinks her milk. Faolan hears the heart beat of the grizzly, which is louder and more frightning than his first Milk Giver's. He names her Thunderheart, for her thunder-like heart. Thunderheart doesn't know anything about wolves, so she teaches him the ways of the bears, such as fishing and walking on his hind legs. One day, Faolan tries to dig for onions, using his good paw. Thunderheart tells him to use the splayed one. Faolan keeps on whining, saying no over and over again. Thunderheart corrects him, by swatting his good paw, forcing him to use his splayed one instead. Faolan does what he is told, without speaking a word, and digs out many onions. Later on, Thunderheart is teaching Faolan to fish. She kills a salmon, and drops it near her step son. Faolan lays on his stomach, not touching the fish. Thunderheart takes a bite of the tail and gives the rest to him. He eats it up, acting like a wolf. The two pass a mother and her two cubs. The cubs laugh at Faolan, making their mother nervous. At first he hides behind his second milk mother's leg, but comes out and stands up for him-self, as if an invisable wolf pack were surrounding him, and scares the bears away. When winter is near, Faolan follows Thunderheart to find a winter den. The two-some find the winter den, and settle down. Noting, that a water-fall was nearby. Thunderheart tells Faolan that she'll sleep, sleep for a long time (called the Long Sleep), the whole winter. She gives him permission to go out and hunt and play. Sometimes, Thunderheart would wake up and Faolan had left food for her. Near spring, she wakes up, and her wolf pup is not there. Forgeting she gave him permission to go out the den, she panics and begins to look for him. When Faolan returns to the den after his run, he finds Thunderheart gone. He also begins to panic. He decides to go to the Outermost, thinking she went there. Faolan begins his journey to the Outermost. He gets the idea that if he killed the couger Thunderheart lost her cub to, she'd come back to him. He finds one and kills it, tearing open his veins. Just when Faolan begins to eat the mountain lion meat, two wolves appear, a gray one and a russet one with one eye, known as Morb. These wolves are known as Outclanners. He realizes they want the meat and tosses it to them. In an attempt to eat the russet wolf leaps on top of the gray wolf and breaks the spine. He travels around, searching for his beloved grizzly milk giver, but doesn't find a trace of Thunderheart. Soon Faolan finds the Cave Before Time. He takes refuge in it and observes painings on the wall. Giving up hope on getting Thunderheart back, Faolan leaves the Outermost and heads back to the Beyond. He finds Thunderheart's bones and begins to howl in grief for his second Milkgiver. An owl, the rogue smith Gwynneth, has been listening to Faolan mouring his loss about Thunderheart. She tells him to come with her, saying they have so much in common. Faolan follows Gwynneth to her forge with Thunderheart's paw bone. She begins to talk to him, and explains the ways of the wolves and why he was abandoned as a pup. He asks why Thunderheart abandoned him and the two believe she thought he was lost. Faolan asks if he can stay with her, but she tells him he must "Go to the Wolves". So his journey to join a pack and end his life as a lone wolf begins. He begins to observe the packs and clans, seeing which one seems best to join. The lightning skreeleen of the pack of the Western Scree of the MacAngus Clan had read the story of the great Fengo, and why he lived again, but it was disturbing that she had seen the story of the wolf who lived again. Angus MacAngus, their chieftain comes to talk to the pack. While talking, he smells the scent of bear and wolf, and finds Faolan's splayed paw-print thinking he had the Foaming-Mouth Disease. He calls the other chieftains and they all decide to go to the Sark of the Slough. She tells them they must build a wall of fire and trap the animal inside. Later Faolan is being chased by a byrrgis of all the Clans, and becomes trapped in to fire. At first he talls himself he has no choice but to die, but then decides to jump for the sun. Having been taught by Thunderheart to stand on his hind legs and leap high, he manages to jump over. At the end, after proving himself worthy by gnawing on a bone, the leader of the MacDuncan Clan, Duncan MacDuncan, asks him to join and he accepts the offer. He is then accepted into Clan as a gnaw wolf. Release Date Lone Wolf was released January 1, 2010. Parts ﻿Part One: The Beyond '' ''Part Two: The Outermost ''Part Three: The Beyond '' Characters *Faolan *Morag *Shibaan *Thunderheart *Gwynneth *The Sark of the Slough *Heep *Duncan MacDuncan *Angus MacAngus Category:Books